Fighting against the Current of Evil (Thursday, Advent 2)

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Introduction

The One who is coming is our helper; the Holy One of Israel is our Redeemer. With Him, everything will be possible. Since He will fight for us and help us, then there should be no room for compromise. With His grace, let us make it a duty not to yield to the pressures of sin and evil in our world.


Homily Proper

The opening words of the prophecy of Isaiah 41:13-20 (FEAR NOT, I WILL HELP YOU) should communicate to us the ever-abiding presence of God, even when we walk in the valley of death. Maybe, the people to whom this prophecy was primarily addressed might have been lost in thought as to the possibility of them leaving Babylon after so many years of oppression. Isaiah encourages them that even when the hurdle appears completely impossible for them to scale, God will make such impossible situations possible. God’s promises are that he will open rivers on the bare heights, fountains in the midst of the valleys, a pool of water in the wilderness and springs of water in dry land, cedar and big trees will thrive in the wilderness and cypress and pine will grow together in the desert so that men may see, know, consider and understand that the hand of the Lord has done this.

Our eternal land of promise is heaven. We long to be redeemed and saved so that we can share in the heavenly inheritance. But to many of us, the lures of the world, the desires of the world and the persecutions of the forces of sin and evil make us think that it is practically impossible to make heaven. With God, everything is possible. Heavenly race, the race to God’s kingdom, the kingdom of heaven is a race that is dotted with impossibilities and violence: violence of moral strangulation, violence from those whose standard is that of the world, violence form those opposed to the message of truth and purity. But it is only the “violent” that can withstand the force of such violence. In other words, we need an equal amount of force to resist forces against our progress. We can’t fight our way through if we continue to sleep and wish to remain gentle men and women. Fight, resist and insist! There is no room for compromise in the race to the kingdom of heaven. Anyone who puts his hand on the plough and looks back is not fit for the kingdom. 

John the Baptist is regarded as a great man because he applied the logic of spiritual combat: marching force with force. Even when the pressures of the world and the state were so strong, he did not compromise his prophetic call and commitment. Even when the pressures of the society nudged the saints (especially those that were martyred) to compromise, they resisted with the last drop of their blood. What of us? Are we going to compromise our Christian calling and allow ourselves to be drifted away by the currents of evil and sin? 



  


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